S’East Governors, Fayose, Others Decry Invasion of Nnamdi Kanu’s Home

The South-east states governors, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and others yesterday expressed concern over the alleged invasion of the home of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, by Nigerian soldiers.

The Director of Media and Public Affairs of the South-east Governors’ Forum Secretariat, Mr. Mike Udah, who spoke with THISDAY on the phone, described the development as worrisome, expressing the determination of the South-east States governors towards the sustainability of peace, political stability and economic prosperity in the region.

Udah stated that the governors of the zone had held meetings with the IPOB leader among other Igbo stakeholders to ensure that the agitation for Biafra does not escalate.

“We are worried that there appears to be a strained relationship between the federal government and IPOB. It was to forestall this problem that the governors of the South-east States invited Kanu to their meeting recently in Enugu.

“The governors are working tirelessly to maintain peace not just in the Southeast but also across the country. He pointed out that efforts were being made by the South-east states governors to meet over the development and find ways to nip it in the bud.

Also, Fayose condemned the alleged attack by military men on Kanu and his supporters.

He said the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government is becoming authoritarian and intolerable of dissenting voices.

A statement from the office of the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, quoted him as saying the federal government ought to wait until its demand in court that Kanu’s bail be revoked is determined by the court before taken any action.

“The invasion is condemnable and the present government is becoming authoritarian. It is proving not to be a peaceful one.

The government is also operating double standards. They went to court to revoke his bail and they can’t be patient enough for the court to decide on the matter.

“We need dialogue. People have to ask the federal government what the Igbo people have done to deserve all this. Even if they have done anything wrong, they should be forgiven.

“Their attempt at muzzling the opposition will fail. For me, I will continue to be the voice of the opposition,” Fayose said.

The governor also urged Nigerians to rise up to the occasion of defending democracy and put the federal government to the task of allowing democracy to thrive and be sustained in the country.

In the same vein, four Igbo socio political groups have reacted to the ‘unfortunate’ development in Umuahia last Sunday evening.

The groups, including Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA), Igbo Youth Movement (IYM) and Igbo Women Assembly (IWA), in separate statements said driving towards the gate of Kanu, to blare sirens, shoot into the air and display armoured tanks, was clearly a deliberate and fully rehearsed plot to provoke mayhem in not just Umuahia but the South-east zone in general.

In its reaction, ECA said it was worrisome that only a section of the country was being allowed to go on “with the historic culture of enslaving others, to totally control the military, defence, intelligence and security architecture of a multi-ethic, heterogeneous country.”

Rev. Fr. John Odey, the Publicity Secretary of the ECA, in a statement lamented that “isolating a region as five per cent losers, deliberately excluding same region from the entire security organs of the country, and now provoking them with a military invasion is the height of insensitivity and brazen insult of a people.

“Driving towards the gate of the most popular leader in the zone (A man who controls electrifying adoration of over 99 per cent of the masses of the zone) to blare sirens, shoot into the air and display armoured tanks, is clearly a deliberate and fully rehearsed plot to provoke mayhem,” Odey stated.

He added that “the army, the government and friends of the presidency continuously making it difficult for the people to respect the government.”

Similarly, the Igbo Women Assembly (IWA), the Igbo Leaders’ of Thought, ILT, the Igbo Youth Movement. IYM, the South-east Christian Network and the Igbo Students’ Union have also risen in condemnation of the said attack.

Mrs. Maria Okwor of the IWA said: “The idea of invading Kanu’s residence on Sunday evening to ‘Show force’ is appalling and very provocative. The army cannot show force in Sambisa, in Plateau State (where hundreds of villagers were slaughtered by Fulani herdsmen) in Ikorodu, Lagos, (where badoo cult have forced residents to relocate).

“The display of show of force five meters from Kanu’s bedroom is a pointer that federal government wants to provoke warfare in the South-east. This government is clearly an enemy government. We call on the federal government to apologise without delay for this infantile act of deliberate provocation.”

On his part, Eliot Ugochukwu-Uko of the ILT and the IYM maintained that “the story by the army that some kids threw stones at the military convoy is hollow and uninspiring.

“Why would the army choose Kanu’s residence to perform their ‘show of force’ on Sunday evening. Why would the army choose Kanu’s residence of all places to show force, only to claim that unknown children pelted them with stones, in order to justify their use of live bullets on a residential compound.

“The Nigerian army is only confirming the suspicious, that it is a sectional army determined to wage war against the people of eastern Nigeria, all in a bid to sustain Nigeria’s unjust unitary structure, and to resist the restructuring of Nigeria. Injustice will not prevail over justice.

“They are only making Kanu more loved and more deified,” Ugochukwu-Uko said.

The groups who were reacting to the so-called “show of force” by the military said that such action was capable of prodding and provoking people to violence in order to give the federal authorities the reason it has been seeking to unleash violence in the South-east.

Traditional rulers in Umuahia North local government yesterday warned the federal government against the use of force to quell the rising agitation for Biafra self- determination.

He said the invasion of the palace of the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu Ibeku, Eze Israel Kanu, who is the father of the IPOB leader Ajomiwe was an affront on the entire traditional institution in Abia as well as an attack on Ndigbo.

“Arresting Kanu won’t solve the Nigeria problem. Even if you kill Kanu today, IPOB is still there and greater Kanus will come up. If they kill the whole Abia, Ndigbo are still outside Nigeria. We should think before acting and not act before thinking,” Eze Ajomiwe said.

Similarly the Igbo Traders Association and the Igbo Students Union did not spare the federal government and the army for pushing the country along “a dangerous path” that could lead to unpleasant consequences.

Also, an aspirant for the 2019 Imo State gubernatorial election, Chief Robert Opara, has condemned the invasion.

Opara described the action as “an act of provocation and show of obnoxious impunity” while condemning it and calling for the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers. He frowned at the military exercise contending that it “will escalate the tensions between IPOB members, the deployed soldiers and the federal government at a critical time when October 1 is looming large in the psyche of Southeast people with the quit notice handed out by the Arewa Youths purportedly aided on and supported by leaders and some governors of the northern region.”

The governorship hopeful argued that if President Buhari could sit and negotiate with Boko Haram there is no reason such gesture should not be extended to IPOB and other interest groups in the Southwest and the Niger Delta.